


The First Christmas Away From Home

by Schelet



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Heartwarming, Hurt/Comfort, Internal Conflict, Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending, Surprise Party, tears ahead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 23:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schelet/pseuds/Schelet
Summary: After being forced to stay at Luna Nova over the holidays, Akko laments to Diana about her Christmas woes; so Diana tries to bring the joy back into Akko's Christmas with the help of her friends and her favorite professor.





	The First Christmas Away From Home

“Merry Christmas!”

Snow drifted down from the sky and rested upon the ground in a light blanket, covering the school grounds in a chilling white sheet that silenced the peaceful air of the courtyard. A handful of students walked the perimeter of the central courtyard while enjoying warm drinks to contrast the snowy day, and two girls were rolling large balls of snow around the ground trying to build a snowman. But one in particular was walking around with a fuzzy red hat tipped with a white ball and handing out candy canes from a small sack.

“Merry Christmas, Sola!”

“Happy holidays to you too, Akko.”

Akko had been handing out treats all around the academy as a way to spread the holiday cheer, along with a few gifts specially picked for her friends; she had given a pair of flight goggles to Amanda, a bin of holiday sugar cookies to Jasminka, a new multi-bit screwdriver to Constanze, and a Venus fly trap to Sucy – by recommendation of the magic item café shopkeeper. Her gift for Lotte would have to wait until she had returned from her holiday visit to her home country, but in the mean time she still had one more gift to deliver...

Stepping through the halls at a brisk pace, Akko rounded corner after corner and climbed stairwell after stairwell in the search for her final giftee; she had checked the dorms, the library, the cafeteria, the restrooms, but still couldn't find them... Until she looked out a nearby window and spotted a lone figure sitting at a bench on one of the outdoor walkways. Akko pressed her face against the glass to verify her target before dashing down the hall, stumbling down multiple flights of stairs, and busting through the doors leading outside.

Huffing and puffing the freezing air, Akko marched up to her friend and announced her presence, “I finally found you, Diana!”

Diana turned with perked eyebrows and moved her scarf away from her mouth, “Oh? You were looking for me?”

Akko cleared her throat, now dry from the frigid air, and lifted her sack of treats in her arms, “Yeah! All morning long, actually! I have a present for you!”  
“You do, now?” Diana questioned with an intrigued look.

Akko sat down beside her, digging through her sack before pulling out a thin box with a bow tied around it; she handed the gift to Diana and watched her intently with a large grin on her face, chanting “Open it, open it” over and over again as she pumped her fists up and down. Diana was a bit uneasy, both from the surprise gift and incessant encouragement, but she complied regardless, undoing the bow and removing the lid of the box. Inside was a green sweater prominently featuring the image of Shiny Chariot, posing on her broom with her arm thrown back in a strictly white and red version of her performance outfit. Diana lifted the sweater from the box and let it unfold to see the entirety of it, unsure of what to say and partly embarrassed by her own childhood fascination with Chariot.

“Oh... Thank you, Akko, though why did you get me a gift in the first place?” Diana inquired.

“Well, I heard from the others that you usually spend Christmas alone, so I thought that a gift might make it a little bit better for you!” the young witch explained as she threw her arms into the air.

Diana blushed at her friend's thoughtfulness, admittedly guilty that she hadn't even considered getting Akko a gift, and began to fold the sweater back up to place it back into the box. “Well thank you, I appreciate your kindness. It is true that I usually stay at the academy during winter break, since Hannah and Barbara both return home to visit their families.”

“Yeah, Lotte left last week to visit her family too.” Akko stated, hugging her sack of candy canes to her chest. “I wanted to go visit my family and see my hometown's festival again, but the weather around the country is pretty bad, so I can't fly out in time for Christmas...” Akko's gaze fell to the ground with half-lidded eyes, “It's gonna be my first Christmas away from home, and I can't even celebrate it...”

Diana felt a familiar pain in her chest at those words as she looked over at her gloomy classmate, unsure of how to comfort the usually chipper witch, “Oh... You don't have anyone to celebrate it with?”

Akko sighed, “Not really. Sucy doesn't celebrate Christmas, Amanda doesn't care about it, and Constanze and Jasminka are both going to be video chatting with their families since they can't leave either. I don't really have a way to talk with my mom or dad though...”

The sting in Diana's heart was only worsening as she felt old memories clawing at the back of her mind, scratching open old scars she had long since repressed. A strong gale of icy wind blew straight through them, piercing their winter coats, and chilled Diana's unmoving body to her core.

Akko's teeth clattered together as she suddenly jumped to her feet, “Brrr! Okay, it's t-too cold! See you later, Diana!” she stuttered through gritted teeth, rushing back into the warmth of the nearby building.

Diana merely raised a hand farewell, her mouth was ajar in an attempt to say something but she was too distracted by her own thoughts to give a proper goodbye. She looked down at the thin box in her lap, brushing off a few flakes of snow that had drifted onto its lid. Her head was hung low and her hair was draping down around her face. She silently sat on the bench by herself, just as she had done before. A long, frozen moment had passed by. Then, Diana gripped the gift in her hands and held it to her chest, standing to her feet and marching through the snow back inside.

 

* * *

 

 

Diana lifted her hand and knocked on the door, and after a moment of waiting it opened. “Hello, professor Ursula.”

Ursula swung the door open and greeted her student in her casual tracksuit, “Well hello, Diana, I'm surprised to see you here. Please come in, was there something you needed?”

Diana entered Ursula's personal chambers as the door was shut behind her, looking around at the few strands of tinsel hung across the room and a tabletop sized Christmas tree set on top of her desk, “Yes, I'd like to ask for a rather short notice favor...”

Pulling up a chair for herself and her student, Ursula walked over to a pot of warm tea and began pouring a cup for the two of them, “A favor? I suppose it depends on what it is, what did you have in mind?”

“Well, I'd like to throw a Christmas party... for Akko.”

Ursula's head perked up at the request, surprised that Diana was going out of her way to do something like that for a student that had always gotten on her nerves for nearly the entire year. She finished pouring the tea and set them on saucers, then walked over to her student and handed her the cup of tea, “A Christmas party? That is awfully short notice, why the sudden wish for such a thing?”

Diana sipped the warm tea and placed the cup down, “You see, Akko had given me a sweater as a gift and told me she wouldn't be able to go home for Christmas. She wanted to visit her family and see the festival in her town, but the poor weather conditions are halting flights around the country. She sounded so sad and homesick, and I didn't even think to get her a gift...”

Ursula stared at her student idly twirling her finger in her hair, clearly distracted as she explained her reasoning, but she felt a slight sense of joy at the fact that Diana was acting out of her own kindness for Akko. “So you want to have a party and make Christmas a little bit better for her, right?”

Diana simply nodded, “Do you think we could get some of her friends together and hold a small party somewhere? It doesn't have to be much, but I'm sure it would mean a lot to her.”

Ursula answered with a smile, “Certainly. We'll only have a few hours before evening, so we'll need to work quickly. If you can talk to her friends and have them show up here before the sun sets, I can work on decorating this room to be a little bit more festive. I might even be able to get some fresh meals prepared from the school kitchen too...”

Diana's face lit up with a smile at the professor's words, “Really? Thank you, professor! I can leave right away to talk to the others!”

Ursula sipped from her cup of tea as Diana stood and walked towards the door with much more vigor than before. As the door closed across the room, she stood and set her cup down before walking to the center of the room with a smile. “It's been quite a while since we've had a nice Christmas party, hasn't it, Alcor?” she asked to the uncaring crow perched at the side of the desk, “I suppose I should get started on decorating, a little magic will go a long way...” Ursula stepped back over her desk to grab her wand and noticed Diana's cup, still filled with warm tea, “Hm, she always finishes her tea before leaving. This must mean a lot to Diana too, huh, Alcor?”

Alcor merely cawed in response and pecked at his feathers.

 

. . .

 

Diana cleared her throat and knocked on the door, waiting for an answer; a muffled “Come in!” could be heard from the other side, and so she opened the door to the unchanged room.

“Hello, Amanda. Greetings to you as well, Constanze and Jasminka.”

“Diana? What are you doing here?” Amanda quipped from her bed. Jasminka waved a friendly 'hello' and Constanze simply looked up from working on some small object before refocusing her attention.

Diana closed the door behind her and cleared her throat once again, “Well, I came to ask a small favor, or rather offer an invitation.” she began, “I'd like to throw a Christmas party for Akko, and I want you three to come as well.”

“A Christmas party?” Amanda reiterated before blowing a raspberry, “Count me out, Christmas blows.”

Diana's calm expression quickly broke into one of shock at the instant refusal, “Wha--? It's meant to cheer Akko up though, she's sad that she can't spend Christmas with her family. Don't you want to be a good friend and help Akko feel better?”

Amanda laid her head back against her pillow and rested on leg on top of her knee, “Look who's talking about being a 'good friend', you spent most of the year ignoring or criticizing Akko and now you want to throw a party for her? I bet you're just trying to get onto Santa's goody-two-shoes list.” she snickered.

Diana's expression turned to one of worry now as she raised her hands to her chest, looking over at the other two for support; Constanze didn't even look up from her work, and Jasminka could only shrug with her usual small smile. She felt her stomach turning at the thought that none of them would even try to help. “Don't you want to spend Christmas with your friends, though? She told me none of you were doing anything special, so wouldn't it be more exciting to throw a surprise party and share a fun night together?”

Amanda blew another raspberry and idly tilted her raised leg back and forth, “Like I said, Christmas blows and I don't care about crummy 'holiday festivities'. It's just a bunch of fake smiles, an ugly tree, and some cheap gifts bought out of obligation. No one really cares, and I've spent too many Christmases with rich snobs that don't give a crap about me.” Amanda remarked, the words cutting into Diana's chest as her hands fell to her sides helplessly. “So why should I even bother with your _dumb_ little party?”

Diana clenched her fists and furrowed her brow, “ _Because it's important to her!_ ”

The other three jumped in unison from the startling burst of emotion, all of them looking at Diana with shocked or worried expressions. The room was suddenly silent.

Diana cleared her throat and calmed her shaking voice after almost misspeaking on her own behalf, her head tilted down as she spoke, “Sorry... But it's important to Akko. Most people enjoy Christmas, and this is her first year spending it away from her family. I just wanted to make Christmas a little bit better for her, so that she wouldn't be so...” Her voice trailed off, then she turned around and opened the door. “Please, just show up to professor Ursula's chambers before sunset...”

Without another word, she stepped outside and closed the door behind her. Amanda looked to the other two with a surprised expression, scratching her head as she laid it back down to her bed while Constanze and Jasminka looked at each other with troubled eyes. Diana stood in the empty hallway, wiping at the corners of her eyes with the backs of her hands before walking down the dorm corridor.

 

. . .

 

Diana raised her hand to the door in front of her, but hesitated for a moment. She needed to ask Sucy to come to the party as well, but now she wasn't feeling so confident after her sudden outburst of frustration. She knew it wouldn't be easy; she had never been on good speaking terms with Sucy, or any speaking terms for that matter, and she knew the mysterious witch likely held an unfavorable impression of her simply for how she treated Akko throughout the year. She couldn't let that hold her back, however, so she steeled her nerves and knocked on the door firmly.

No answer.

Diana turned the doorknob and announced herself, “Um, Sucy? I'm coming in...”

She opened the door to see Sucy alone in the dorm room, sitting with her legs beneath her bed sheets and looking up at Diana from the book she held. “Darn,” Sucy began, “I was hoping you'd think I wasn't home.”

Diana sighed and closed the door behind her. “Look, I know we aren't much more than classmates that tolerate each other to be polite, so I'd prefer to keep this brief and concise. Akko can't spend her Christmas at home with her family, so I'm throwing a surprise Christmas party for her to cheer her up and I want you to come as well.”

Sucy stared for a few long seconds, then lowered her eyes back down to her book, “Okay, just let me finish this chapter.”

Diana was a bit astonished at the simple reply, “You mean... You'll do it? You'll come to the party?”

“Yeah.” Sucy dryly answered, “It's for Akko, so I know if I didn't go she'd probably cry and keep me awake all night.”

The look of surprise on Diana's face was washed over with a calmed smile, appreciating the fact that Sucy was caring enough to support Akko even in her own unique way. “Thank you. Please show up to Ursula's chambers before sunset.” She politely dipped her head, turned around, and saw herself out.

Sucy continued to read her book as the door was shut. “Guess I should put some pants on...”

 

* * *

 

 

“This way, this way!” a robotic voice chirped.

“Stanbot, wait!” Akko pleaded, “Why are you leading me all the way up the living quarters tower?”

“Follow, follow!” the small animated robot chimed, dashing away with its short legs.

Akko groaned as she finished ascending the stairs and braced herself against the wall, “Jeez, how can such a small robot climb stairs so quickly?” she complained before catching her breath. “It lead me up the teacher's quarters, but why to Ursula's room?” she pondered aloud. Akko walked up to the door and peeked through the small diamond-shaped window; the inside of the room was dark aside from a stream of dim, pink sunlight illuminating the upper floor of the room. It didn't seem like Ursula was inside at the moment.

“Open, open!” Stanbot demanded.

“Alright, alright, jeez...” Akko complied, raising her hand to knock on the door. “Um, professor Ursula? I'm coming inside, I guess...” Turning the doorknob and opening the door, Akko stepped into the dark room and heard the door shut behind her; she stood in cold silence for a few seconds before finally calling out, “Hello?”

A green light swiftly came to life and flew across the room, lighting dozens of floating candles as it circled around before zooming into an indent in the wall and bursting into flames, leaving a burning log in its place in the clearly lit room. In front of Akko was a table lined with various foods, snacks, and desserts; looking in front of her she could see a massive tree decorated from trunk to tip with all kinds of jolly ornaments and colorful tinsel, and around the guardrail of the upper floor were plenty of hung stockings. As Akko turned around to get a complete look at the room, she was caught off guard when she looked up so see...

“ _SURPRISE!_ ”

… Everyone!

Amanda lifted herself up against the guardrail and flipped herself over it, falling and landing on her feet right in front of Akko with a loud thud. “Oww...” she quietly groaned as she straightened herself upright, a pair of goggles hanging from her neck, “Uh, surprise Akko!”

“Surprise, surprise!” Stanbot cried out as it skipped over to Constanze stepping down the stairs, followed by Jasminka waving 'hello' behind her as she held a bin of cookies. Constanze picked up Stanbot and began readjusting it with a spotless screwdriver until it was more akin to a laptop, pressed a few keys, and turned it around; on the screen was a video call, and Lotte was on screen!  
“Hi Akko!” she called out through the computer, followed by an abrupt pair of voices joining in; “Hey Akko!” No doubt, it was Hannah and Barbara as their video feeds joined on screen.

Sucy was the next to descend the stairs, holding a small potted Venus fly trap in her hand, “Merry Christmas, Akko.” And following her was Ursula, who quietly smiled as she came off the final step.

Akko looked at everyone with an awestruck expression, “What the?! What's going on?”

Sucy spoke up, “It's a surprise party, dummy.”

Ursula stepped forward, “Someone heard you were spending your first Christmas away from home, so they decided to do something special for you.” She then cleared her throat rather obviously and gestured for Akko to turn around.

Akko spun on her heels and faced herself back towards the tree and table of food, and saw Diana standing in front of the fireplace where the bookshelf once stood. She had a soft smile on her face, her arms were held behind her back, and the green sweater she wore had the image of Shiny Chariot on it. “Merry Christmas, Akko.” she greeted with a smile.

“Diana?!” Akko burst out, walking up to her with an almost concerned expression, “You threw this party for me?”

“Yes, I'm not heartless after all.” she joked. “Here,” she began as she pulled a thin box with a bow wrapped around it from behind her back, “open it.”

Akko took the awfully familiar box and undid the bow, lifting the lid open and seeing... a red sweater with the image of Shiny Chariot, posing on her broom in a strictly white and green version of her outfit. She quickly handed the box back to Diana, stripped her jacket off, then lifted the sweater and pulled it over her head until it snugly hugged her body. “It fits!” Akko remarked, “And it's kinda itchy!”

“Yes, it is.” Diana agreed with a smile. “Sorry that I had to reuse your box, the gift was rather short notice...”

“But where did you get it? All the stores are closed today!”

Diana looked over her shoulder at the fireplace to hide her uneasy smile, “Well, I may have previously owned that sweater since I was about... say, eleven years old? The gift was extremely short notice...”

Akko didn't mind the regifting at all, however, and leapt forward to wrap her arms around Diana in a warm embrace, “We match!”

Caught off guard by her friend's welcoming enthusiasm, Diana's surprised face swept into a gentle smile as she returned the hug. “Yes, we do match.”

Professor Ursula stepped forward and looked at the two girls, a nervous smile plastered on her face as she spoke, “Oh, you're both wearing Shiny Chariot sweaters... How lovely...”

The two girls giggled, sharing a heartwarming smile together before a pair of voices called out from the laptop Stanbot in perfect unison, “DIANAAA!”

Diana sighed and walked towards the laptop now resting on the table, “Goodness, hello to you two as well.”

“We have so much to tell you about!” Barbara bellowed.

“Yeah, there's a lot to catch up on!” Hannah hollered.

“You two have only been gone for a week though...” Diana stated as she pulled a chair up to sit down at the table.

Akko watched as her friends sat around the table one by one, putting food on their plates and starting up conversation together. Feeling a hand placed upon her back, Akko looked up to see Ursula's smiling face as she guided her to the table. The group shared delicious food and stories alike; Hannah and Barbara told Diana about their trips back home and the gifts they received, then Lotte told Akko and Sucy about her trip and the new Nightfall book she was gifted, then Lotte and Barbara began to talk about Nightfall together much to Hannah's dismay. Jasminka served her homemade pie, Constanze pulled out a radio she had scrapped together to play music, and Amanda told a story about how she punched a mall Santa in the face as a kid. Sucy was more focused on eating and admiring her new plant, which she was starting to doubt was an actual Venus fly trap due to the way it actively attempted to eat the meat on her plate with its sharp teeth-like spines.

After many mouthfuls of food and laughter, Akko stood up and stepped away from the lively table to speak with Diana who was standing by the fireplace. “So Diana...” she began, “Why did you decide to have this party in the first place?”

Diana looked over to her, then to the table full of chatty noises, then to the fireplace. “I suppose it's because... because I saw myself in you.”

“Huh?” Akko questioned with an intensely confused look.

Diana sighed, “Allow me to explain... I used to love Christmas when I was a little girl. I got to spend the whole day playing with my mother and the new toys I was given, and I'd spend the entire week running around the estate playing games with her or my housekeepers. But my mother became ill, and her health quickly worsened... One Christmas she was playing with me, and the next Christmas...”

Akko's eyebrows peeked in the middle of her forehead, clearly understanding what happened.

Diana continued as she stared into the fireplace, “After my mother passed away, a few of the housekeepers would stay to celebrate Christmas with me. But as I grew older, I started telling them to go enjoy Christmas with their families instead. By the time I was becoming a teenager I had stopped celebrating Christmas altogether, and now at Luna Nova I don't even think about it since my friends all have families to go home to. Everyone had a family to go home to, but all I had was an empty mansion filled with painful memories...” Diana sighed, her voice trembling ever so slightly as she spoke, “And then I saw you, experiencing your own Christmas without Christmas. Homesick, unable to be with your family, and despite all the friendly faces around you, you were... _alone_...”

Akko could see a wet teardrop slowly trailing down Diana's dried face.

“I saw how sad you were, and I couldn't help but see myself as a child when I looked at you. I didn't want you to experience the same loneliness that I experienced... But even despite everything, you still went out of your way to make Christmas a little bit better for everyone else with gifts, and I hadn't even thought to get you anything to begin with...” Diana shuddered and inhaled deeply before continuing, “So I talked to everyone and threw this party for you, so we could all make your Christmas _so_ much better.”

Akko reached forward and grabbed Diana's hand, stepping closer to look into her cloudy eyes with her own tearful eyes. She sniffled before speaking, “Then I want you to have a better Christmas too, Diana!” she exclaimed with a wide grin and tears on her cheeks.

Diana was frozen for a moment in surprise, but then a warmth spread across her body as her friend's affection melted the ice covering her heart. She placed her free hand on her cheek and tilted her head as a tear dropped from her eye, “Goodness, Akko, your heart is just full of kindness...”

The two girls smiled together and began wiping the tears from their eyes, then a pair of fists bumped them on the shoulders.

“Hey, what are you two crying for?” Amanda asked with a gentle smile.

“Sorry,” Akko stated, “we were having a moment...”

Amanda scratched the back of her head, “No worries. I kinda overheard it actually, sorry. But uh, Diana...” she turned to face her, “I wanted to apologize about how I acted earlier...”

Diana wiped her eye with a smile, “It's quite alright, Amanda, I'm sure you had your reasons.”

“Yeah, long story short, my holidays were spent with a rich family that cared more about how much money they could make from Christmas rather than spending time with their kids... And, I guess I was letting my childhood get in the way of letting others celebrate Christmas too. I didn't realize how important this was to the both of you... So...” she said as she raised a fist, “Are we cool?”

Diana sighed and raised a fist in return, gently bumping Amanda's as she spoke, “Yes, we are.”

Akko joined in as well, bumping her knuckles against the others with a wide grin on her face as the girls laughed together. The whole room was full of smiles and cheer, and everyone in the room was...

_THUD._

“What the hell?” Amanda questioned as everyone looked up at the ceiling.

Light repetitive thuds could be heard scaling down the domed roof until something dropped down in front of the large circular window on the second floor. A shadowy figure stood up against the moonlight and forced the window open, stepping in as the cold breeze rolled into the room and then shouting, “HO HO HO!”

“Santa Claus?!” Akko cried out with stars in her eyes.

“Professor Nelson...?” Amanda questioned as she squinted her eyes.

The figured closed the window behind them and stood close enough to be seen clearly in the light; it was indeed professor Nelson, wearing a Santa outfit while carrying her broom and a striped paper bucket. “Hey Akko, I brought fried chicken!”

“Fried chicken?!” Akko cried out with just as much excitement.

There was a knocking at the door before being opened wide, “Nelson, I told you not to fly onto the roof of the tower!”

Standing at the doorway was professor Finnelan, carrying a fishbowl with professor Pisces, who entered the room followed by professor Badcock carrying a plate of cookies, professor Lukic with a jug of warm tea, and headmistress Halbrooke carrying a candy cane.

“Professors? What are you all doing here?” Akko asked.

Finnelan spoke first, “Well, we were told by Ursula that there would be a small Christmas party, so we decided to take part since we would all be at the academy for Christmas.”

Nelson piped up as she slid down the guardrail of the stairs, “So we brought food!”

“And drinks!” Lukic added.

“And fresh cookies!” Badcock chimed in.

“And warm smiles.” Halbrooke finished as she held up her cane and candy cane with a grin.

Akko's eyes were wide, and her lips were ajar. Then, a wide smile spread across her face. Unable to contain herself, Akko shouted “Yaaay! Merry Christmas!” and began spinning around on her heels with her arms raised high; the room filled with laughter as the professors set down what they were holding and conversation picked up once more.

After a few moments of eating and talking, Akko was hit with a sudden realization and quietly leaned over to Diana, “Uh oh, I totally forgot something...”

Diana whispered back, “Uh oh, what did you forget?”

“I didn't buy Ursula a present...”

“... Goodness, Akko...”

 

* * *

 

 

_Dear mom and dad,_

_I hope you had a merry Christmas! Sorry I couldn't make it home this year, I really wanted to visit and see the festival again! But even if I couldn't go home, I still had a wonderful Christmas! My friend held a surprise party for me, and all of my friends and professors were there! It was really fun, and I was really happy! My friend Diana even gave me her own Shiny Chariot sweater, it was almost the exact same one I got for her as a gift! My first year at Luna Nova was very exciting, and I'm really looking forward to my second year with all of my friends! I'll have a lot of stories to share with you in the future! Merry Christmas, and happy new year!_

_With love, Atsuko Kagari._

 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was a blast to write! I think it ended up being really good, and I'm proud of how it turned out with the more emotional story focus and how I wrote some of the characters; Diana has been especially enjoyable to write with my recent stories and this one allowed for some more serious character depth based on established canon. I also just like giving her little quirks of my own.  
> I'd love to hear some feedback on what you thought! And of course, merry Christmas!  
> I teared up at least three times while writing this.


End file.
